Conventional flow regulation devices have been developed to restrict a flow of fluid. One common example is set forth in issued U.S. Pat. No. 3,900,184, entitled, “Roller Clamp for Tubing.” This type of device relies on use of common infusion tubing to deliver fluid. In general, as a roller is moved from one end of a housing to the other, a tube within the housing is compressed to restrict the flow of fluid to a target recipient.
One type of deficiency associated with the roller clamp technology is that it is only able to make very coarse flow adjustments based on movement of the roller clamp. Another deficiency associated with roller clamp technology is that the flow rate setting is prone to drifting. This is due to the elasticity of tubing relaxing over time, resulting in an increase in a size of a passageway and respective flow rate of delivering fluid. This creates potentially dangerous situation if undetected.
As a result of the need for higher precision in-line fluid flow control, more precise flow control technology has been developed. For example, both issued U.S. Pat. No. 6,916,010 and issued U.S. Pat. No. 3,877,428 describe devices for controlling a flow rate of fluid. These devices provide substantial improvements over conventional pinch valves with roller clamps. However, they do not provide accurate and repeatable flow needed for modern infusion applications.